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Midori, the Microsoft operating-system project that is separate from Windows, has seen some promising developments, Mary Jo Foley writes. Previously an incubation project, Midori is now part of the company's Unified Operating System group, she writes, citing two contacts. On Dec. 27, Midori team member Joe Duffy blogged about the M# language the team is using, which he described as "C# for Systems Programming."

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Application downloads on Christmas continue to rise, with this year's total up 11% from 2012, according to mobile analytics platform Flurry. But the rate of year-to-year increase is leveling off as the market for smartphones and tablets reaches what Flurry calls a maturation point.

A U.S.-based charity has established an unconditional cash-transfer system in Kenya and Uganda using mobile phones for distribution, writes Claire Provost. A study of the project showed that the money was generally spent on necessities.

In 2013, the total applications offered in the iOS App Store passed the 1 million mark. Some of the best reviewed new app releases included to-do list/planner Cal, e-mail aggregator Mailbox and unique navigation grid What3Words.

Analysis from Distimo has revealed 92% of Apple App Store's November revenue and 98% of Google Play's came from in-application purchases incorporated in free-to-play apps. In 2013, eMarketer estimates in-app purchases will account for 41% of total app revenue and that number will rise to 47.5% in three years.

Microsoft is updating the Windows Phone App Studio beta for better performance and scalability and adding a Flickr module, Mikael Ricknas writes. The company's test of the program, which allows code-less application building via pre-constructed templates, now serves more than 55,000 individual projects. Windows Phone sales have surpassed BlackBerry, according to Gartner.